Interface for meeting facilitation and coordination, method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to an overlay interface for facilitating and coordinating meetings. In particular, a central overlay interface tool having access to a plurality of applications is provided for scheduling meetings at dates and times at which desired meeting attendees are available. The tool allows for communications related to the meeting to be automatically generated and sent to participants. In addition, communications may be received and acted on by the tool. The tool may also provide for the identification of materials related to the meeting, and provide access to such materials to attendees. In a further aspect, the overlay interface allows for follow-up and sidebar meetings to be scheduled.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to facilitating and coordinatingmeetings. In particular, the present invention is directed to an overlayinterface for facilitating and coordinating meetings electronically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Meetings between persons are often required to advance a cooperativeenterprise or reach a concensus. According to effective meetings.com(SMART Technologies, Inc., May 2003), over 11,000,000 meetings occureach day. The scheduling of such meetings is complicated where there area large number of participants, or where participants are located indifferent time zones. In addition, supplying supporting materials tomeeting participants, and doing so in a convenient format, can be achallenging task. Furthermore, during a meeting it is often desirable totake meeting notes, and assign action items to various meetingattendees. In addition, sidebar meetings are often desirable. Subsequentor secondary discussions may also be spawned. The process of manuallyscheduling meetings and follow-up meetings, distributing documents andother materials to meeting attendees, and taking meeting notes istedious, time-consuming and inefficient. Accordingly, meetings andassociated activities are extremely costly to businesses.

In a typical enterprise, the process of scheduling a meeting betweenparticipants often involves numerous communications between attendees inorder to determine an acceptable time and agenda. For example, asignificant amount of inefficient e-mail, facsimiles and voice mails maybe required. Additional rounds of such communications may also begenerated in connection with scheduling follow-up meetings and sidebardiscussions.

Scheduling tools exist to facilitate the setting of meeting times andplaces. However, such applications are incapable of automaticallyresolving conflicts that may arise due to prospective meeting attendeesbeing located in different time zones. Accordingly, such programs are oflittle assistance in setting meetings that will be attended by at leastsome of the attendees remotely, such as through video orteleconferencing. In addition, such programs do not provide for thecreation of meeting notes during the meeting, the distribution ofmeeting materials, or convenient scheduling of subsequent or sidebarmeetings.

Application programs that allow multiple users to participate in thecreation of textual documents have been developed. However, suchapplications do not provide scheduling functions that can be used toschedule meetings, subsequent meetings, or sidebar discussions. Inaddition, such applications typically allow access to only one documentat a time, and do not provide for the delivery of materials to meetingattendees.

Other application programs that have been developed to facilitatemeetings include programs for scheduling resources, such as conferencerooms. Although such applications provide a central location at whichreservations for shared resources can be made, they do not provide forscheduling of meeting attendees, the distribution of meeting materials,or other functions.

Still other applications have been developed for facilitating meetingsin which all or some of the participants are remote from one another.For example, online meeting and conferencing tools have been developedto facilitate communications between participants over a communicationnetwork. However, such applications do not provide a convenientinterface for determining the identity of an attendee requestingspeaking time. Furthermore, where multiple attendees have requestedspeaking time, the order in which such attendees are granted speakingtime is determined by a meeting leader, rather than automatically. Inaddition, scheduling subsequent meetings or sidebar discussions, as wellas access to textual and other materials, requires the use of separateapplications and/or communications channels accessed outside of thecontext of the online meeting tool. Conventional on-line meeting toolsalso do not provide a facility for taking meeting minutes, and thereforesuch activities must also be done outside of the context of the onlinemeeting tool.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a single applicationcapable of performing multiple functions in connection with thescheduling and conduction of meetings. Furthermore, it would bedesirable to provide a single application that could be used toautomatically schedule meeting attendees, distribute materials to theattendees, allow for the entry of contemporaneous notes or minutes takenduring a meeting, and facilitate the scheduling and conduction ofsubsequent or sidebar meetings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to solving these and other problemsand disadvantages of the prior art. According to the present invention,an application overlay or overlay interface is provided that functionsas a gateway to a plurality of applications. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, the overall interface allows a userto automate repetitive functions, including the scheduling of meetings.Because the overlay interface functions as a gateway to legacyapplications, and not as a replacement application, legacy applicationsand systems do not need to be replaced in order for the presentinvention to be deployed. Furthermore, because the overlay interfaceprovides convenient access to legacy applications, it is not necessaryfor a user learn how to use new tools in order to use various providedfunctions.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the overlayinterface accesses electronic data related to the schedules of potentialmeeting attendees, to determine potential meeting times. In accordancewith a further embodiment of the present invention, where meetingattendees are located in different time zones, such time zones areconsidered in order to prevent the scheduling of meetings outside ofnormal or reasonable business hours.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, anoverlay interface that displays the identity of persons presentlyattending a meeting in progress and identifying an attendee currentlyspeaking is provided. Furthermore, such an embodiment may allow actionitems to be assigned, and subsequent or sidebar meetings to beestablished. In accordance with still another embodiment of the presentinvention, an overlay interface that allows access to meeting materialsis provided. According to still another embodiment of the presentinvention, the overlay interface allows a scribe to enter meetingminutes and notes associated with a meeting in progress.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention will becomemore readily apparent from the following discussion, particularly whentaken together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication arrangement in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a relationship between applications inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating functional aspects of aninterface application in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 depicts an overlay interface display in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart depicting aspects of a process flow associatedwith an overlay interface in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart depicting additional aspects of a process flowassociated with an overlay interface in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an overview steps taken in connectionwith scheduling a meeting using an overlay interface in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the scheduling of attendees inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the selection and formatting ofmeeting materials in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the establishment of aconfidentiality level for communications associated with a meeting inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the selection of a meeting date inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the scheduling of resources for usein connection with a meeting in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to facilitating and coordinatingmeetings. With reference now to FIG. 1, a communication arrangement 100such as may be used in connection with an application overlay inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.As shown in FIG. 1, the communication arrangement 100 may include anumber of workstations 104 that are each interconnected to and incommunication with one another over a communication network 108.Although three workstations 104 a, 104 b and 104 n are illustrated inFIG. 1, it should be appreciated that any number of workstations 104 maybe included in the communication arrangement 100. In addition, thecommunication arrangement 100 may include one or more communicationterminals 112. Each communication terminal 112 may be in communicationwith one or more workstations 104, and/or one or more othercommunication terminals 112, via the communication network 108.

In general, each workstation 104 may comprise a general purpose computeror an intelligent communication device. Accordingly, each workstation104 may include a general purpose programmable processor or controller116 for executing application programming. In addition, memory 120 maybe provided for use in connection with the execution of the applicationprogramming, and for the temporary or long-term storage of data. A datastore 124 may also be provided for storing operating system 122,application 126, and/or overlay interface 128 programming and/or data.Various input/output devices 132 may also be provided. For example, inconnection with a workstation 104 implementing an intelligentcommunication device, the input/output devices 132 may include one ormore microphones and speakers, to allow a user or users at a locationcorresponding to a workstation 104 to participate in voicecommunications with a user or users at a location associated withanother workstation 104 or communication terminal 112. In addition, theinput/output devices 132 may include a visual display device, fordisplaying information associated with the operation of the overlayinterface 128, and for displaying related meeting materials, includingscheduling information, applicant availability information, and meetingmaterials. One or more keyboards and/or pointing devices mayadditionally be provided as input/output devices 132 to allow for theentry of data and selection of displayed items. A network interface 136may also be provided for interconnecting a workstation 104 to thecommunication network 108. A communication bus 140 is provided to permitthe exchange of data between various components of each workstation 104.Although each workstation 104 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as including eachof the described components, it should be appreciated that theworkstations 104 are not required to have the illustrated set ofcomponents. Furthermore, in a communication arrangement having one ormore workstations 104, each workstation is not required to include acopy of an overlay interface 128 application in accordance with thepresent invention. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention, the overlay interface 128 may be installed on oneworkstation 104, and loaded onto one or more additional workstations 104as desired to provide overlay interface functions 128 on thoseadditional workstations 104. In accordance with another embodiment, theoverlay interface 128 may be installed on and/or active on less than allof the workstations in a communication arrangement 100. For example, theoverlay interface 128 may be active on only one workstation 104.

The communication network 108 may comprise one or more networks capableof carrying data, including real-time data, between workstations 104, orbetween at least one workstation and one or more communication terminals112. Accordingly, the communication network 108 may comprise a computernetwork, including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a private intranet, or the Internet. In addition, thecommunication network 108 may comprise a public switched telephonenetwork or wireless communication network.

A communication terminal 112 may be supported by embodiments of thepresent invention, for example to allow participation by meetingattendees who do not have access to a workstation 104. Accordingly, acommunication terminal 112 may comprise a conventional telephone. Inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention, acommunication terminal 112 may comprise a computer enablingcommunications between a user associated with the communication terminal112 and other users, at least one of which is associated with aworkstation 104, that does not provide overly interface 128functionality. Accordingly, not every workstation 104 in a communicationarrangement 100 having a number of workstations is required to provideoverlay interface 128 functionality. In addition, a communicationterminal 112 may be used in conjunction with a workstation 104. Forexample, a communication terminal 112 comprising a conventionaltelephone or videophone may be used for voice communications incombination with a workstation 104 that provides overlay interface 128functionality but does not directly support voice communications.

With reference now to FIG. 2, an example of possible relationshipsbetween an overlay interface or interface application 128 and associatedprocesses or applications (e.g., applications 126) that may be accessedthrough an overlay interface 128 is illustrated. As can be appreciatedby one of skill in the art, the interface application 128 and otherworkstation applications 126 generally run on or operate in connectionwith an operating system 122. Although the application 126 and interfaceapplication 128 are depicted in FIG. 2 as running on a single operatingsystem 122, it should be appreciated that the present invention is notso limited. For example, different applications 126 and/or copies of theoverlay interface 128 may run on different copies of an operating systemor different workstations 124 or servers accessible to the workstations,for example over the communication network 108, and/or on differentoperating system 122 versions and types.

Examples of associated processes or applications, which may includeapplications 126 on a workstation with an overlay interface 128, includeelectronic communication processes or applications, such as a telephonyapplication 204. The telephony application 204 may support the exchangeof voice and/or video data between users associated with a workstation104 at a first location and a workstation 104 or electroniccommunication terminal 112 at a second location. Examples of othercommunication applications that may be associated with an overlayinterface 128 in accordance with an embodiment of the present inventioninclude chat and instant messaging applications.

In addition, the interface application 128 may support aninterconnection to or provide access to a data process, such as a wordprocessing application 208. For example, the overlay interface 128 mayprovide access to a word processing application 208 through a window, sothat data may be retrieved from or added to documents in real-time,while a meeting is underway, or during pre or post meeting activities,while having a view of and/or immediate access to other informationassociated with the meeting through the overlay interface 128. Theoverlay interface 128 may also include or provide connectivity to otherdata processes, such as a spreadsheet application 212 to allow forinformation to be entered into or accessed from spreadsheet documents inreal-time while a meeting is in progress, or during pre or post meetingactivities, while simultaneously displaying and/or providing access toother meeting related information via the overlay interface 128. Stillother examples of data processes that may be accessed through theoverlay interface include presentation or slide show applications.

Interconnectivity to a scheduling tool or electronic calendarapplication 216 is provided to allow for the automatic scheduling ofmeeting attendees. In particular, through the overlay interface 128, anadministrator or meeting organizer may poll calendar data associatedwith selected meeting attendees to determine the availability of suchpersons. In addition, once a date and time for the meeting has beenselected, the selected date and time can be automatically entered intothe calendars of each meeting attendee.

Access to a directory application 220 may be provided to facilitate theselection of meeting attendees. In particular, a directory application220 associated with a business enterprise may allow the meetingorganizer to select appropriate attendees based on title orresponsibility information included in the directory application 220. Inaddition, information regarding whether potential meeting attendeesremain affiliated with the business enterprise can be obtained throughthe directory application 220.

The overlay interface 128 may also provide interconnectivity to aresource scheduling application 224. Accordingly, required resources,such as conference rooms, workstations 104, projectors, or otherresources for use in connection with a scheduled meeting may be reservedthrough the overlay interface 128.

In addition, the overlay interface 128 may provide interconnections tovoice mail/facsimile 228 and email 232 applications. For example, themeeting organizer may publish or announce the scheduling of a meeting orother information to meeting participants through the overlay interface128 in association with a facsimile application 228 and/or emailapplication 232. As used herein, voice mail/facsimile 228 and/or email232 applications may be considered to be types of electroniccommunication processes or applications.

In summary, the overlay interface 128 allows a user to access andutilize various processes or applications 126 (e.g., applications204-232) through the overlay interface 128. Accordingly, by opening asingle application (the overlay interface 128) directly, a user maybenefit from the features provided by a number of applications.Furthermore the overlay interface 128 may enhance the convenience ofsuch applications 126 by providing a central store of information, suchas a list of selected meeting attendees, which can be used toautomatically query the applications 126 for relevant information, andto automate the exchange of correspondence and information with respectto a particular meeting or family of meetings, as will be described ingreater detail elsewhere herein.

With reference now to FIG. 3, certain functional aspects of an overlayinterface 128 in accordance with an embodiment of the present inventionare illustrated. In particular, the overlay interface 128 includescontext awareness 304 with respect to meeting materials, and presenceawareness 308 with respect to meeting attendees.

Context awareness 304 may include an awareness of materials andresources associated with a particular meeting or family of meetings.For example, the context awareness function 304 of an overlay interface128 may allow documents or other materials related to a scheduledmeeting to be conveniently available to all meeting attendees havingaccess to a work station 104. As a particular example, if the text of adocument is being discussed, a meeting attendee may select from a menuthat includes as an item that document in order to view the text whileit is being discussed. Accordingly, by populating selectable items of anoverlay interface 128 with related materials, access to such materialsmay be facilitated.

The presence awareness functions 308 of an overlay interface 128 mayfacilitate the tracking of the persons actually in attendance inreal-time. For instance, the presence awareness function 308 may trackattendees as they log into or out of the meeting. Such information maybe displayed, for example continuously, on work stations 104. Thepresence awareness functions 308 of the overlay interface 128additionally allow for the convenient assignment and/or scheduling ofperipheral tasks. For example, a number of attendees may be assigned toa submeeting, or subsequent meeting, for example by the meetingorganizer or a delegate, through the overlay interface 128.

With reference now to FIG. 4, an example of a meeting space 400 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.In addition FIG. 4 is an example of information that may be displayed byan overlay interface 128 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As depicted in FIG. 4, the meeting space 400 may includerepresentations of locations 404 associated with attendees of the activemeeting 408. In addition, the local time 412 at each location 404 may bedisplayed, and updated in real-time. Attendees 416 that have signed intothe meeting 408 are associated with their respective location 404. Inthe exemplary embodiment of the FIG. 4, the attendees are listed bytheir location and an assigned number. However, each attendee 416 wouldtypically be listed by name. Alternatively or in addition, each attendee416 signed into the meeting may be listed by a descriptive title. Theactive attendee 420 may be graphically indicated, for example by colorcoding. The active attendee 420 is the attendee speaking or otherwiseadding content at a particular moment in time. Accordingly, theindication of the active attendee is updated in real-time or nearreal-time. In addition, a graphical indication may be associated with anattendee who has made a request to speak or otherwise add content. Wherea number of attendees have made requests to add content, and thoserequests have not been fulfilled, the order in which the requests weremade may determine the order in which each requesting attendee isallowed to add content. The order in which the requests will be grantedmay be indicated graphically or in other ways, such as by displaying anumber corresponding to the requestor's position in a queue ofrequesters.

The current meeting 408 may include a description 424, allowing for aparticular meeting to be conveniently identified, such as by title ortopic. In addition, by providing a description 424, a meeting space 400for each of a number of meetings may be displayed. The display ofmultiple meetings can facilitate the tracking of the participation ofattendees 416 in the main meeting, or sidebar or secondary meetings.Thus, if input from a particular attendee is desired in connection witha particular secondary meeting, the presenter or delegate may assignthat attendee 416 to the secondary meeting requiring that person'sinput. Secondary meetings may also be identified and optionallydisplayed in the meeting space 400. For instance, in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 4, Denver Attendee 6 and New Jersey Attendee 6 havebeen assigned to secondary meeting A 428.

As can be appreciated, a display of the meeting space 400 thus allowsmeeting attendees 416 to be easily identified. Furthermore, thegraphical display may be manipulated by the presenter or a delegate, forexample to create submeetings by clicking on attendees 416 to beassigned to such submeeting, or to recall attendees 416 previouslyassigned to a submeeting to a main meeting. For instance, the assignmentof attendees to a secondary meeting may be performed graphically, forexample by drawing links between the attendee 416 being assigned to asecondary meeting using an input/output device 132 comprising a pointingdevice.

With reference now to FIG. 5A, a process for facilitating andcoordinating a meeting in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated. Initially, at step 500, the process isstarted. For example, a user may open an overlay interface 128application. At step 504, a determination that a meeting is needed ismade. This determination may be made by the present user, or some otherperson. At step 508, a determination is made as to who called themeeting under consideration. If the current user called the meeting,that user next creates a list of attendees (step 512). If at step 508 itis determined that some other person called the meeting, the currentlist of attendees is provided to the user (step 516). The process maythen continue to step 512, at which point the current user may edit thelist of attendees, if desired, and/or if permission to edit the list hasbeen granted to the user.

At step 520, the best method of contact for each of the attendees isdetermined. Examples of contact methods include voice mail or fax 524, ascheduling tool 528, such as any electronic calendar, or email 532.After determining the best method of contact 520, each of the listedmeeting attendees is contacted to determine their availability (step536). In particular, the overlay interface 128 will utilize thefacilities of a scheduling tool application 216 to check the calendar ofa listed attendee for those attendees whose best method of contact is ascheduling tool 528, or to notify a listed attendee whose best method ofcontact is voice mail or fax 524 or email 532 of proposed meeting datesand times using a voice mail/facsimile application 228 or emailapplication 232. As part of determining the availability of listedattendees, time zone issues are considered, to avoid scheduling ameeting outside of normal or reasonable business hours for any listedattendee. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, alisted attendee's availability can be determined automatically byaccessing a scheduling tool 528 containing data associated with thatattendee. For an attendee who does not maintain an electronic calendarusing a scheduling tool 528, or for whom an alternate method of contacthas been selected or determined to be preferable, the attendee'savailability may be determined through an exchange of communications forexample, in proposing a meeting date and time or requesting informationregarding available dates and times, and receiving a reply from theattendee. Such an exchange of communications may be performedautomatically through the overlay interface 128. For example, theapplication interface 128 may generate and send a request foravailability information to a listed attendee via email 532 using anautomated form that can be completed by the receiving attendee.

After information regarding the availability of listed attendees hasbeen collected, the meeting is scheduled (step 540). For example, datesand times at which all or a substantial portion of the meeting attendeesare available may be presented to the user, and the user may then make aselection from the list. In addition, scheduling the meeting 540 mayinclude determining the meeting materials 544 that are to be availablein connection with the meeting, and meeting facilities or resources,such as meeting rooms, teleconferencing, or projection equipment 548needed in connection with the meeting.

The best method of confirming and propagating notice of the scheduledmeeting is then determined for each attendee (step 552). Accordingly,methods of contact, such as voice mail or fax 524, electronic schedulingtools 528 or email 532 may be used to notify the attendees availableduring the selected meeting time of the meeting. Furthermore, multiplemethods of confirmation and propagation may be used in connection with asingle attendee. The confirmation and propagation messages may begenerated automatically for each available attendee by the overlayinterface 128, and delivered in connection with the appropriateapplication 126. The best method of confirmation and propagation for aparticular available attendee may be the same as the best method ofcontact used to determine that attendee's availability at step 520, orit may be different.

With reference now to FIG. 513, at step 556, the meeting, meetinglocation or locations and materials associated with the meeting areconfirmed. Confirmation may include a reply communication from each ofthe available attendees. The overlay interface 128 may manage theconfirmations received from the attendees. For example, the confirmationstatus of attendees may be available to users of the overlay interface128 in various levels of detail. For example, a summary of the number ofavailable attendees notified of the meeting who have confirmed and thenumber who have not yet confirmed may be displayed. In addition,information regarding the confirmation status of each individualattendee notified of the meeting may be made available to a user of theoverlay interface 128.

At step 560, the meeting occurs. The meeting itself may be held betweenattendees in a single location. Alternatively, one or more of theattendees may be located at one or more remote locations, in which caseat least a portion of the meeting is conducted as a tele or videoconference, or otherwise using real-time communications. In addition, ascribe may be determined for the meeting (step 564). As depicted in FIG.5B, the step of determining the scribe 564 may be performed after themeeting has been started. Alternatively, the scribe may be determinedbefore the meeting commences. During the meeting, the appointed scribetakes notes (step 568) from which the meeting minutes may be compiled.

During or at the conclusion of the meeting, a determination is made asto whether a follow-up meeting is needed (step 572): If it is determinedthat a follow-up meeting is not needed, and provided that the currentmeeting is over, then the process ends (step 576). If it is determinedthat a follow-up meeting is needed, the meeting attendees may discusswho should attend the follow-up meeting, the topic of the meeting, howsoon the meeting should be scheduled, documents or other materialsrequired for that meeting, and other matters (step 580). The process maythen return to the start (step 584) and the follow-up meeting can bescheduled in the same manner as the original meeting.

With reference now to FIG. 6, an overview of the operation of an overlayinterface 128 in accordance with an embodiment of the present inventionis illustrated. Initially, following the process start (step 600) adetermination is made that a meeting is needed (step 604). The user orperson setting up the meeting may then log into the meeting facilitationtool or overlay interface 128 (step 608). The tool may then determinethe user (step 612). In accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention, the access that a user has information maintained by theoverlay interface 128 is controlled depending on the identity of theuser.

At step 616, a determination is made that action is needed. If theaction required is to perform follow-up on an existing or previouslyscheduled meeting (step 620) the overlay interface 128 may allow theuser to access lists of meeting attendees, meeting dates and times, andmeeting materials. For example, a user may use the overlay interface 128to access meeting materials associated with a particular meeting, andedit those materials. In addition, the user may also use the overlayinterface 128 to edit other aspects of an existing meeting, such as toschedule the date and time, meeting attendees, and meeting location orlocations.

If the action needed involves scheduling a new meeting (step 620) theoverlay interface 128 polls the user for input (step 624). Examples ofsuch input are given in connection with FIGS. 7-11 and the accompanyingdescription. After the user has entered the necessary input, whichtypically includes desired meeting attendees, materials needed for themeeting, the subject of the meeting and required confidentiality level,preferred meeting dates, and required resources, a communicationnotifying the selected meeting attendees of the meeting is sent (step628).

With reference now to FIG. 7, steps taken in connection with polling theuser for input regarding meeting attendees are illustrated. Initially,at step 704, the user determines the attendees for the meeting beingscheduled. Using the selection of the attendees entered by the user, theoverlay interface 128 enters a company directory to obtain informationregarding the attendees (step 708). The company directory may comprise adirectory of company employees. In addition, the company directory oranother directory accessible by the overlay interface 128 may comprise adirectory of outside service providers. At step 712, the meetingattendees are selected from the directory. If a selected attendee is notincluded in the directory, the user or coordinator is notified (step716). For example, if a prospective attendee has been removed from acompany directory, it may indicate that the person is no longer anemployee of the company. Accordingly, the user will know the prospectiveattendee is not available and/or to select an alternate employee. Inaddition, the overlay interface 128 will therefore indicate that theattendee is no longer available. The process of selecting attendees andnotifying the user if a selected attendee is not included in a directorycontinues until the user is satisfied with the list of selectedattendees that are also included in the directory.

A scheduler application is then checked for each of the selectedattendees (step 720), and the overlay interface tool 128 receives theselected attendees' schedule information (step 724). Accordingly, in theexample illustrated in FIG. 7, each of the selected attendees is assumedto maintain an electronic calendar using a calendar application 216 thatcan be accessed by the overlay interface 128. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, the scheduler need not be the samefor each of the selected attendees. For example, each selected attendeemay use a different calendar application 216, provided it can beaccessed by the overlay interface 128. In accordance with a furtherembodiment of the present invention, if a selected attendee does notmaintain an electronic calendar, or otherwise does not have associateddata in a scheduler accessible to the overlay interface 128, the processmay proceed using an assumed availability for such an attendee. Theoverlay interface 128 may then check for conflicts or issues, such astime zone or holiday related issues particular to each attendee'slocale, or expected location (step 728). Applying the data from thescheduler, a meeting date and time is selected by the user (step 732),and the attendees are then provided with an e-mail notification of thescheduled meeting (step 740). Accordingly, the embodiment of the overlayinterface 128 illustrated in FIG. 7 assumes that each of the attendeescan be contacted by email. According to another embodiment of thepresent invention, attendees may be contacted using alternate forms ofcommunication.

At step 744, a confirmation message is received from an attendee. Adetermination is then made as to whether the confirmation receivedpresents a conflict or issue (step 748). For example, an attendee maynotify the coordinator, through a reply email that is received by theoverlay interface 128, that they have a conflict that was not entered inthe scheduler application. If there is a conflict or issue, an alternatedate and time may be selected (step 736). If the confirmation does notpresent a conflict or issue, a determination is made as to whether aresponse has been received from all of the selected attendees (step752). If a response has not been received from all of the selectedattendees, the process returns to step 744 to await the receipt of thenext confirmation message. If a response has been received from all ofthe selected attendees, the process ends (step 756). In accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention, the process of setting ameeting time and date does not require confirmation from meetingattendees. According to such an embodiment, the process of scheduling ameeting may end after a notification of the attendees of the scheduleddate and time.

With reference now to FIG. 8, a process for selecting and formattingmaterials needed in connection with a meeting is illustrated. Initially,at step 800, the materials needed in connection with a meeting areidentified. Such materials may include, for example, textual documents,graphics, and data. At step 804, the format of the materials needed forthe meeting is identified. For example, documents may be in .pdf, .doc,.wpd, .ppt, .xls, .xlt, .html, or other formats. As part of the processof identifying materials, the location of those material is alsoidentified (step 808). Furthermore, if identified materials are notlocated on a storage device accessible through the computer network 108used in connection with the workstation or workstations 104 on which theoverlay interface 128 is running, any such materials may be moved orotherwise collected. The step of locating materials may also includeestablishing links between those materials and the overlay interface128. At step 812 any needed format conversions are performed. Inparticular, documents having formats not supported by workstations 104used by meeting attendees will require conversion. At step 816,documents requiring conversion are placed in their final format. Theprocess then ends (step 820).

With reference now to FIG. 9, a process for establishing aconfidentiality level with respect to materials and/or communicationsrelated to a meeting in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated. Initially, at step 900, the subject of themeeting is entered. For example, the subject of the meeting may beidentified by a code word or other method of categorization. Inaddition, the sensitivity of the meeting may be determined (step 904).At step 908, the overlay interface 128 marks all communications and/ordocuments as required by the confidentiality level indicated by thesubject and sensitivity associated with the meeting. The process ofassigning a confidentiality level may then end (step 912). Accordingly,an embodiment of the present invention allows a confidentiality level tobe automatically assigned to communications and documents associatedwith a meeting. Furthermore, the overlay interface 128 may implement orrequire an appropriate level of security to the associatedcommunications or materials. For example, the overlay interface 128 mayautomatically encrypt communications and/or materials before suchcommunications and/or materials are transmitted between workstations104.

With reference now to FIG. 10, a method for selecting a meeting date andtime in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. Initially, at step 1000, the user enters one or morepreferred dates and times into the overlay interface 128. At step 1004,the overlay interface enters the calendars or schedulers 216 associatedwith the meeting attendees or prospective attendees. A date and timerange available for the meeting corresponding to the preferred dates arepresented to the user (step 1008). If the user determines that none ofthe dates and times are now acceptable, one or more new dates and timesmay be selected (step 1012), in which case the tool again checks thecalendars at step 1004. If a date and time within the returned range isacceptable, the user selects one of the dates and times (step 1016) andthe process ends (step 1020).

With reference now to FIG. 11, a process for determining and reservingrequired resources in connection with a meeting is illustrated. Ingeneral, the process may include using the overlay interface 128 toaccess one or more resource scheduling applications 224. Initially, atstep 1100, any required technical support, such as workstations 104 orother equipment, such as projectors or specialized conferencingequipment, is identified. The overlay interface 128 then presents a menuto the user (step 1108). The user may then make selections from the menu(step 1112). Examples of equipment that may be selected from the menuinclude video equipment 1116, audio equipment 1120, a local area network1124, and an overhead projector 1128.

With respect to video equipment 1116, by making a selection of suchequipment, a video conferencing center may be contacted by the overlayinterface 128 (step 1132). Through such communication, a reservation ororder for the necessary equipment may be made, and confirmation ornotification of the availability of such equipment may be sent to theuser or coordinator through overlay interface 128 (step 1136).

In connection with the selection of audio equipment at step 1120, theaudio conferencing center may be contacted through the overlay interface128 (step 1140). Through such communication, the necessary audioequipment may be reserved or ordered. Confirmation of the availabilityof the requested audio equipment may then be sent to the coordinator oruser through the overlay interface 128 (step 1144).

The selection of conference rooms at step 1122 allows the user to entera reservation for a conference room or rooms during or around thescheduled meeting time (step 1148). Confirmation of the reservation ofthe requested conference room or rooms may then be sent to the user orcoordinator through the overlay interface 128 (step 1152).

With respect to a request for a local area network at step 1124, anetworking center may be contacted (step 1156). Confirmation of theorder for the requested local area network may be sent to thecoordinator or user through the overlay interface 128 (step 1160).

With respect to a request for an overhead projector 1128, the overlayinterface 128 may generate a communication to an audio-visual centerwith a request for the overhead projector (step 1164). Confirmation ofthe reservation of the overhead projector may be sent to the user orcoordinator through the overlay interface 128 (step 1168).

After the selection of support equipment or resources, and afterconfirmation that such support or resources will be made available forthe meeting, the process of scheduling support and resources ends (step1172).

As can be appreciated by one of skill in the art from the descriptionprovided herein, an overlay interface in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention provides an interface to a number of existing orlegacy applications. Accordingly, the overlay interface providesconvenient and integrated access to existing tools. In addition tofacilitating meeting processes, embodiments of the overlay interfacetherefore allows various functions and acts using applications that arefamiliar to a user. Accordingly, a user is not required to learn newtools in order to use various functions provided through the overlayinterface.

The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. Further, the description isnot intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein.Consequently, variations and modifications commensurate with the aboveteachings, within the skill and knowledge of the relevant art, arewithin the scope of the present invention. The embodiments describedhereinabove are further intended to explain the best mode presentlyknown of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in theart to utilize the invention in such or in other embodiments and withvarious modifications required by their particular application or use ofthe invention. It is intended that the appended claims be construed toinclude the alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the priorart.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for scheduling a meeting using anoverlay interface, comprising: identifying a need for a meeting betweena plurality of persons; a computer including a processor and memoryexecuting said overlay interface, wherein the computer is a firstworkstation associated with a user and the overlay interface executes onthe first workstation; said overlay interface determining a list ofdesired meeting attendees, wherein said determined list of desiredmeeting attendees is entered into said overlay interface through a userinterface of the first workstation; said overlay interface accessing afirst electronic calendar process on the first workstation, wherein thefirst electronic calendar process is associated with the user; saidoverlay interface accessing a second electronic calendar process on asecond workstation, the second workstation associated with at least oneof the desired meeting attendees, wherein said first electronic calendarprocess and said second electronic calendar process are disparatecalendar applications; said overlay interface polling the secondelectronic calendar process associated with the at least one of thedesired meeting attendees to obtain desired attendee availabilityinformation; in response to said polling, said overlay interfaceobtaining at least a first potential meeting date and time; said overlayinterface selecting a potential meeting date and time, wherein saidselected potential meeting date and time is entered into said overlayinterface through the user interface of the first workstation; and saidoverlay interface notifying the at least one desired meeting attendee ofsaid selected potential meeting date and time using at least a firstelectronic communication process, wherein a meeting is scheduled in thesecond electronic calendar process of one of the at least one desiredmeeting attendee and the user.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: using a scheduling process accessed through said overlayinterface, comparing said desired meeting attendee availabilityinformation and from said desired meeting attendee availabilityinformation identifying at least a first candidate meeting date andtime; using said scheduling process, checking for at least a firstdisqualifying issue associated with said at least a first candidatemeeting date and time; and in response to failing to find adisqualifying issue associated with said at least a first candidatemeeting date and time, said overlay interface placing said at least afirst candidate meeting date and time in a potential meeting date andtime list, wherein said selecting a potential meeting date and timeincludes selecting at least one potential meeting date and time fromsaid list.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said at least a firstdisqualifying issue includes at least one of the followingdisqualifications: not during business hours, weekend, holiday,vacation, and previously scheduled issue.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining support materials for said scheduledmeeting; and establishing a list of said selected materials, whereinsaid list of selected materials is maintained by said overlay interface,wherein said selected materials comprise at least one of a document, aprojector, and a teleconference device.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: using one of said at least a first communicationprocess and a second communication process accessed through said overlayinterface, establishing a communication link between each of saiddesired meeting attendees at or about said scheduled meeting date andtime; receiving an acknowledgement that at least two of said desiredattendees are actual attendees; and using an electronic communicationprocess accessed through said overlay interface, exchanging informationbetween said at least two actual attendees.
 6. The method of claim 5,further comprising: determining a need for a subsequent meeting;determining a list of desired subsequent meeting attendees; using saidsecond electronic calendar process accessed through said overlayinterface, polling a calendar associated with each of said desiredattendees; in response to said polling, obtaining at least a firstpotential subsequent meeting date and time; selecting a potentialsubsequent meeting date and time; and using said electroniccommunication process accessed through said overlay interface, notifyingsaid desired subsequent meeting attendees of said selected subsequentmeeting date and time, wherein a subsequent meeting is scheduled.
 7. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising: determining a need for asimultaneous sidebar meeting; determining a list of desired simultaneoussidebar meeting attendees; using a resource scheduling applicationaccessed through said overlay interface, polling said resourcescheduling application for available resources; in response to saidpolling, scheduling said sidebar meeting through said overlay interface;and presenting said sidebar meeting and said at least two of saiddesired attendees that are actual attendees in the meeting in a displayat the same time.
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprising: using aseparate word processing process accessed through said overlayinterface, taking meeting minutes during said meeting.
 9. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising: using a data process accessed through saidoverlay interface, distributing information to said actual attendees.10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: using said overlayinterface, sequencing said information distributed to said actualattendees.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein said data process accessedthrough said overlay interface comprises at least one of a wordprocessing application, a spreadsheet application, and a presentationapplication.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displayingdata to a meeting attendee using a data process accessed through saidoverlay interface.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said data isdisplayed in a sub-window of said overlay interface.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining a need for a specific action bya selected meeting attendee during said meeting; using a word processingprocess accessed through said overlay interface, creating a record ofsaid specific action; and using one of said first electroniccommunication process and a second electronic communication processaccessed through said overlay interface, communicating said record ofsaid specific action to at least said selected meeting attend.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said electronic communication processaccessed through said overlay interface comprises at least one of atelephony application, a chat application, an instant messagingapplication, a voice mail application, a facsimile application and anemail application.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: usinga resource scheduling application accessed through said overlayinterface, determining an availability of a resource, wherein saidselecting a potential meeting date and time comprises selecting apotential meeting date and time obtained from said polling of saidcalendar and corresponding to a date and time at which said resource isavailable.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said resource schedulingapplication comprises at least one of a teleconferencing resource and ameeting room resource.
 18. A computer readable medium having storedthereon computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to execute a method for scheduling ameeting using an overlay interface, comprising: identifying a need for ameeting between a plurality of persons; said overlay interfacedetermining a list of desired meeting attendees, wherein said determinedlist of desired meeting attendees is entered into said overlay interfacethrough a user interface of a first workstation; said overlay interfaceaccessing a first electronic calendar process on the first workstation,wherein the first electronic calendar process is associated with theuser; said overlay interface accessing a second electronic calendarprocess on a second workstation, the second workstation associated withat least one of the desired meeting attendees, wherein said firstelectronic calendar process and said second electronic calendar processare disparate calendar applications; said overlay interface polling thesecond electronic calendar process associated with at least one of thedesired meeting attendees to obtain desired attendee availabilityinformation; in response to said polling, said overlay interfaceobtaining at least a first potential meeting date and time; said overlayinterface selecting a potential meeting date and time, wherein saidselected potential meeting date and time is entered into said overlayinterface through a user interface of the first workstation; and saidoverlay interface notifying at least one desired meeting attendee ofsaid selected potential meeting date and time using at least a firstelectronic communication process, wherein a meeting is scheduled in atleast one of the second electronic calendar process of the at least onedesired meeting attendee and the first electronic calendar process ofthe user.
 19. A first workstation comprising: a memory operable to storecomputer-executable instructions; a processor in communication with thememory, the processor operable to retrieve the computer-executableinstructions from the memory and to execute the computer-executableinstructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising:instructions to identify a need for a meeting between a plurality ofpersons; instructions to execute an overlay interface; instructions todetermine a list of desired meeting attendees, wherein said determinedlist of desired meeting attendees is entered into said overlay interfacethrough a user interface of the first workstation; instructions toaccess a first electronic calendar process on the first workstation,wherein the first electronic calendar process is associated with a user;instructions to access a second electronic calendar process on a secondworkstation, the second workstation associated with at least one of thedesired meeting attendees, wherein said first electronic calendarprocess and said second electronic calendar process are disparatecalendar applications; instructions to poll the second electroniccalendar process associated with at least one of the desired meetingattendees to obtain desired attendee availability information; inresponse to said polling, instructions to obtain at least a firstpotential meeting date and time; instructions to select a potentialmeeting date and time, wherein said selected potential meeting date andtime is entered into said overlay interface through a user interface ofthe first workstation; and instructions to notify at least one desiredmeeting attendee of said selected potential meeting date and time usingat least a first electronic communication process, wherein a meeting isscheduled in at least one of the second electronic calendar process ofthe at least one desired meeting attendee and the first electroniccalendar process of the user.
 20. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: determining a need for a simultaneous sidebar meeting;determining a list of desired simultaneous sidebar meeting attendees;using a resource scheduling application accessed through said overlayinterface, polling said resource scheduling application for availableresources; in response to said polling, scheduling said sidebar meetingthrough said overlay interface; presenting said sidebar meeting and saidat least two of said desired attendees that are actual attendees in themeeting in a display at the same time; and using a word processingprocess accessed through said overlay interface, taking meeting minutesduring said meeting.